definitely wind driven. there's a lot of wind out here. good news, no one was hurt. on the other side of the ladder are the townhomes that are extremely damaged. check out this video we shot a few minutes ago. to the homes.he extensive damage there were people home at the time of the fire but they were able to get out safely. we also spoke with a teenager who wasn't home at the time. he said his neighbor called him, that his neighbor broke in to his home to save the that were inside. the animals were also okay. the fire lieutenant tells me this is still very much an active investigation. they have no idea what caused the fire but definitely those three townhomes are unlivable tonight. reporting live in aurora, kelly werthmann, cbs4 news. now to the weather alert tonight. the wind and extremely dry conditions creating high fire danger across the front range. new fire today burning west of the air force academy has dozens

that's near rampart reservoir. there are evacuations due to a massive wildfire in southern colorado called the junkins fire. already more than 13,000 acres have burned there. >> hundreds of homes are threatened. it's burning near west cliff, southwest of pueblo. that shows you right there, we have team coverage at 5:00. meteorologist lauren whitney tracking the dangerous fire conditions. want to start though with matt. those flames really t this morning. >> in a matter of 12 hours we went from a grass fire about an acre to 13,300 acres. it exploded here behind me outside of the town of west cliff. evacuations in place. and more people are getting ready to evacuate. >> reporter: evacuees grabbing what they can a getting out. >> beyond scary. i keep praying the wind will die down. they said it was a small grass

by the time they called 911, they were already being told to get out fast. >> we got out just in time. we could see the glow and the fire coming over the hill. so grabbed what we could, put it in the truck and headed down. >> reporter: firefighters can only try to protect homes. actually attacking this fire is not an option. with winds gusting to more than 60 miles per hour. aircraft and more firefighters are on the way. >> i hope we'll still have a house up there. bought a house six months ago, moved in three months ago. hopefully we still have a house when we get there. >> reporter: the sheriff is already saying structures are burning. >> right now we're hoping the winds die and the fire folks can get a chance to get up there. >> so far 20, 30-mile-per-hour winds, gusts up to 60 miles per hour. things are so dry you can hear

fire is actually burning. firefighters doing what twhai can -- doing what they can and more reinforcements on the way. hopefully these winds will die down later this evening but tomorrow they're calling for more high winds here in westcliffe. wildfire in eagle county 50% contained. the freeman fire burning north of rudy reservoir has burned 300 acres since it started saturday. a red flag warning in place right nowor lauren whitney joins us now tonight. that smoke, you can see it moving in to the front range. >> you can notice it's pretty hazy outside if you're in the downtown area and it will be hazy in some parts of colorado thanks to these wildfires and these winds. we have red flag warnings in place today. these will be in place through 9:00 tonight as our winds are going to stay strong throughout the rest of the day and well in to the evening hours. it should get a little bit better overnight tonight in some spots but these go all along the front range, parts of the foothills, in to the high

parts of nebraska, in to kansas and all the way in to new mexico and the oklahoma and texas panhandles as well. it is dry and windy across the west and this is because we do have that cold front that's moving through, cranking up our winds that could reach 50 miles per hour in some places. we do have humidity levels dropping below, about 15% in many, many areas. it's dry out there. be extra careful because one spark can do a whole lot of damage. we'll talk more about that front and these gusty winds in just a moment. right now i'll send it back toe >> for the latest red flag warnings any time, visit cbsdenver.com. we also have a link to the latest fire danger in colorado. developing tonight, a 64-year-old man from northern california is under arrest after a bomb was found last week outside the nederland police department. the suspect was tracked down through surveillance video. cbs4's rick sallinger live right now outside a denver king soopers. rick, that's where some of that

apparently not difficult to spot. he stands just 3 feet 6 inches tall, has a ponytail and is on crutches. authorities believe he purchased a phone here meant to detonate a bomb. >> reporter: it's being described as a sophisticated explosive device. it was found tuesday morning outside the nederland police department in a backpack. several attempts were made to detonate the cell phone but it did not explode. we learned david ansberry had separate visits to the town this month. caryn ashley is the assistant manager. >> jaws on the floor. and i think all of us together explained, you know, of all the people, i would not have suspected this one. >> reporter: while the bomb was being examined, crews evacuated the area. the nederland police chief remembered seeing someone fitting ansberry's description nearby. the motel was contacted.

cab with his bags, he was very adamant about one of his bags not being touched. >> reporter: the search for the suspect took the fbi to this king soopers and one other in longmont where the phones were purchased. security video of ansberry was obtained. he was eventually tracked from nederland to midway airport in chicago where he was arrested saturday coming off a plane. >> authorities may have a suspect, but what they don't have is a among the avenues being investigated, the possibility of ties with some radical group either in the present or the past. and the possibility that he may have had a dispute with the town of nederland. live at king soopers at 13th and krameria, rick sallinger, cbs4 news. a registered sex offender is now in custody, charged in a new sexual assault on a teenager.

ehlebracht met a 15-year-old girl on an app called whisper. he drove her to his home in boulder and assaulted her. he was convicted five years ago of attempted sex assault on a child. new developments tonight as prosecutors dropped sexual assault charges on a case out of denver. in april colby messer was charged with six counts of sexual assault. a woman told prosecutors he assaulted her in a hotel room. he was visiting from canada. prosecutors say they can't prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. this is the news 2016. ballots for colorado voters are now in the mail. we were there this morning as the ballots arrived at the denver mail processing plant. this will be the first presidential election in which everyone in our estate can vote by mail. go to cbsdenver.com to find out the drop-off locations. also the deadlines for getting those ballots in. and colorado could certainly play a pivotal role in electing our next president. >> republican nominee donald trump will visit colorado springs and grand junction

clinton ahead in colorado by 8 points. clinical specialist shaun boyd live from pearl street in boulder. donald trump, jr. campaigning there. he was supposed to be on the hill. >> right. the owners of the restaurant where he was scheduled to appear earlier today released a statement this afternoon saying they are not supportive of campaign events there. so the trump campaign had a change of venue, bringing their event instead here street where protesters found them. fortunately no physical altercations here but there has been a lot of shouting back and forth. donald trump, jr. told me he understands boulder isn't exactly friendly territory for republicans but he says his dad will be president for all americans. he would not address the sexual allegations against his dad during an interview today but said the campaign has been brutal. >> he knew there was going to be stones thrown but it's sort of amazing that a guy like him, not

years. he's been out there. he's been pretty famous for a long time. and all of the sudden, all of the sudden with 25 days left, i don't think the american people are naive enough to believe any of this stuff. i think they've seen what's going on with clinton, the way they operate. it's the pay to play. it's her criticizing evangelicals, catholics, latinos, african americans. as far as i'm concerned, based on these e-mails, everyone is in the basket of deplorables. the only people hillary clinton likes are people who her foundation. >> trump, jr. also met with supporters in jefferson county including some law enforcement. he told me the race could come down to colorado. this is his third visit here in the last few weeks and it coincides with bernie sanders' stop in boulder. i asked trump, jr. about sanders' call for free college and clinton's promise of debt-free college. >> he talks about free college. hillary clinton doesn't rally with him but what do the e-mails say about free college? it's ridiculous, it can't

which policy are they voting for? the one she speaks at a stump speech or the one she tells bankers at a goldman sachs? >> earlier today in denver last night, bernie sanders appealed to his vote of young voters who haven't warmed up to clinton like they did obama. sanders told them if they sit out the election, they're being extremely unpatriotic. and he said they should take a hard look at where the candidates are on issues like affordability. >> clinton believes in addition to making public colleges and universities tuition-free for the middle class, that what we have got to do is allow people to refinance their student debt at the lowest interest rates they can find. i am requesting that you do everything you can in the next several weeks to make certain that donald trump does not

states. [ cheering ] mr. trump did more to make my point than i did in a year and a half. thank you, donald trump. >> tonight at 10:00, we'll have coverage of sanders' visit here in boulder where he's caaigning on behalf of amendment 69, colorado care. and we'll also keep you updated on the situation here in boulder. live in boulder, shaun boyd, cbs4 news. >> busy day on the trail. also coming up, a surprising nu victims of dating violence, which can come in many forms. now add technological abuse to the list. how it's happening. >> the boo at the zoo in denver is very popular on halloween, but this year one kind of costume is banned. >> you felt the gusty winds and even some rain and snow showers right on in to larimer county. and we have a cold front that has dropped on through. 70s today, 60s tomorrow, even colder wednesday and i'll tell

rain mixed with snow. >> gary kubiak is back with the broncos and was on the practice

we have a startling statistic for you. one in three teenagers report some kind of abuse in their romantic relationships. >> that includes verbal, emotional, physical, and now technological abuse. it includes sexual harassment and disclosure of private photos. 67% of young people in an abusive relationship don't tell anyone about it. new developments a announces it's removing clown masks from store shelves this afternoon. police in colorado and many other states have been dealing with threats and pranks tied to people wearing the mask. now the denver zoo is playing it safe. tom mustin is there now. no clowning around at a very popular halloween event this year. >> that's right. this year's booth will be a clown-free zone. the zoo says there have been no specific threats against the zoo

clown hysteria nationwide, they'd rather be safe than sorry. >> reporter: a week before halloween creepy clown hysteria is creeping in to overdrive. for the past few months, devilish clowns, real and imagined, have been reported. now the denver zoo is taking a stand, banning clown costumes from its annual boo at the zoo halloween event. >> a lot of people are hypervigilant to it. >> reporter: the zoo spokesman says there have been no threats ns clown climate dictated the costume ban. >> reached a point where there have been enough people concerned about clown costumes that we needed to ban it this year. >> reporter: clown costumes have been removed from some costume stores and banned in some school districts. she says the zoo ban goes too far. >> i understand the concern but to ban all clown costumes is a little over the top. >> reporter: tyler says most of

safety is not worth the risk. >> i feel like most of it is overkill. but i don't know. i feel like it could be smart to just be safe this one time around especially since it's been so prominent lately. >> reporter: with clown mania reaching its peak this halloween, the lion's share of parents have no problem attending boo at the zoo clown-free. >> i think it's a good idea. >> the zoo tells me along with clown costumes, masks of any the ban is in place for adults and of course little children will not be affected. boo at the zoo kicks off saturday here at the denver zoo. that's where we're live tonight. jim, back to you. let's get over to ed greene, find out more about this windy weather alert tonight. >> all day long we've had these gusty winds around here and gusting 60, 70, and even higher than that. even a little rain mixed with snow as this front comes through in to the higher portions of larimer county. that front has dropped through and it sits south of denver right now.

and this front that all has produced winds with gusty conditions. let's go to lauren whitney and talk about those really gusty winds. >> they got pretty intense today. i've had more texts from friends across the state saying how much they hate this wind and how strong it was today. it was particularly strong today. dylan reported an 80-mile-per-hour winds gust. greeley had two big ones. actually some downed power lines in the area. 66 and there. fort morgan had a gust up to 62 miles per hour. so very windy as that front was working its way ahead of that. taking a look at temperatures and what's happening outside, we're looking at very gusty winds continuing. right now 28-mile-per-hour gusts in grand junction. it's windy all through the high country. 33-mile-per-hour winds in rifle. 35-mile-per-hour gusts in denver. along berthoud pass, eastern plains, winds over 50 miles per hour. red flag warnings are still in

you can see them all over the eastern plains, all the way in to grand county until 9:00 tonight because the gusty winds and the very dry conditions we've been seeing and the problem with that is the high fire danger, and we've seen acre fire can go to 13,000 acres in just a matter of hours. let's take a look at the hour by hour. there's that little of rain mixed with snow we saw. that dies down. a few clouds roll in. tomorrow another surge of cooler air comes in. here comes moisture with i think we could see showers but they do some late. rain or rain mixed with snow very close to denver. some of those will pass on through. we could see one pass by the metro area. that's really going to be about it. then it clears out. then we roll in to thursday at noon. lots of sunshine around here and things get a whole lot better. 77s are what we had today for the high. 65 is normal. 86 is the record high, started off at 36 and 41. 63 and 65 right now. north of 15. but gusting to 30.

26% humidity. we've got a rising barometer. couple pictures from golden. this is from broomfield from linda warman. this is another nice one from judy williams. moon set. let's take a look at a moonset picture. very pretty shots. temperatures tonight, mostly 30s, 40s. 30s higher up out west. temperatures in the 20s, 30s, and 40s. for tomorrow we'll be cool around here with 50s and 60s over the eastern plains. some 70s southeast. we'll find 50s and 60s for the mo temperatures in the 50s, 60s, around 70. here's that denver forecast for tonight. we'll see partly cloudy skies, winds will be relaxing. 41, 39. tomorrow we'll look for increasing clouds, late showers. temperatures only in the low to mid 60s. for the next several days, winds say just 57 degrees for a high. then we sort of reverse course, start to warm it up just in time

broncos head coach back on the practice field this afternoon. gary missed all of last week's on doctors' orders. he met with the media after practice and told us he actually started to feel ill the morning of the atlanta game but didn't think too much of it. he was taken to the hospital after that game. gary spent last week meeting with doctors. he said the main issue going to be working on better sleeping habits. the good news is he told us he feels great. there should be no lingering effects but he did say he

>> it just makes you appreciate what you're doing. we're in a business where you go, go, and go and you've got 16 weeks to be as good as you can be. all of the sudden taking two days away from here when you're a football coach, taking two days away from what you do, it's like what the hell is going on here? it's like having a summer off or something. but no, it just makes you appreciate the players, makes you appreciate being around the [ laughter ] >> so the team back at practice today. the broncos adjusting their schedule a little bit since they don't play again until one week from tonight on monday night football. the team basically getting a mini bye and the players certainly enjoying the extra rest. >> it will feel great to have this break in the season. i don't think we've had this

year. i don't think we've had this type of being able to get back fresh. so i feel great. i think everybody is going to be able to get away a couple days. i think that's going to help. >> any time football players can get the extra days off, they'll certainly take it. coming up tonight, broncos safety will parks going to be our guest tonight at 6:30.

,, before donald trump, there was mike coffman. before trump said women should be punished for having an abortion,

who were drugged. before trump called for a ban of muslims, coffman pushed for a religious test of u.s. soldiers. and on president obama? trump: he could have been born in kenya. coffman: he's just not an american. stop mike coffman now before he gives trump more ideas. house majority pac is responsible

well, we get a little bit cooler tomorrow. cooler still on wednesday. then we warm it up just in time for your weekend. looks like we're dry all the way. >> another spectacular weekend.

captioning sponsored by cbs >> pelley: wheeling, dealing and e-mailing. f.b.i. documents say a state department official offered thee bureau a favor if it would i reduce the classification of a clinton e-mail. >> it just stinks to no end. >> pelley: also tonight, while trump warns of election fraud, could be russian hackers. r >> imagine on elecon night reports come out that causes people to think the results of the election are questionable. >> pelley: holly williams on th front lines of the biggest battle yet against isis. >> these kurdish fighters are trying to move in that direction and retake the main road to mosul, but isis has lit fires in villages there and there to try to shield themselves from air